Gadgets take over learning process at many local schools

MIDDLETOWN — A shipment of 700 brand-new, super-fast Google Chromebooks is going to students in grades three through eight in the Middletown School District.

Pauline Liu

MIDDLETOWN — A shipment of 700 brand-new, super-fast Google Chromebooks is going to students in grades three through eight in the Middletown School District.

In Newburgh, sixth-graders are waiting to receive 900 iPads next month. Meanwhile, nearly 200 iPads have been issued to ninth-graders and one fourth-grade class in the Rondout Valley School District.

Welcome to learning in the 21st century.

This fall, school districts across the mid-Hudson are introducing students to electronic devices to spur learning. What's more, it's federally required or mandated that children have such "personalized learning environments."

"It's a lot more fun than just writing on a piece of paper," said 9-year-old Alex Sanchez, a fourth-grader at Maple Hill Elementary in Middletown.

Students there also have been using iPads for a few years,

"I play math games and stuff using multiplication, and it's more fun,"said Matthew Washington, a Maple Hill third-grader.

Districts are getting creative in finding ways to pay for the devices. Middletown's Chromebooks cost about $450 apiece. The price tag, including charging carts, ran more than $400,000. It was paid for through a combination of federal money and state aid secured through Orange-Ulster BOCES.

"I'm going to go after every dime this community deserves and make sure we use it wisely, and part of that is technology," Middletown Superintendent Ken Eastwood said.

Newburgh took the innovative step of using state aid for textbooks to pay for its 900 iPads.

"They changed the law so that textbook aid includes electronic devices," said Steve Jensen, the district's chief of technology. "It's not going to cost taxpayers a penny."

To bring down costs, the district is leasing the units from Apple over three years. Jensen didn't have numbers immediately available, but his plan is giving other districts ideas.

"It's a brilliant use of dedicated money, and politically the public can get behind it," said New Paltz Superintendent Maria Rice.

New Paltz has a committee of teachers studying the district's options for buying new technology next year.

Rondout Valley, which closed Rosendale Elementary over the summer, has taken some flak from parents over its new iPads.